Propeller.



L. R. FULDA'.

,PrwPELLERI f IIIIIIIIIIIII LED APR. 111111 o. 1 ,044,371.` PatentedNov..12, 1912.

2 SHEETS-snm 1 Y l 7 L/ A 6 Myra w il.

L. R. FULDA.

PROPELLER.' APPLIOATION FILED APRlze, 1910.

Patented Nov. 12,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENIDR L' '4 MFH/VER jZ/Lzu.

the following is a specification.

LA'MARTINE R. FULDA, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

PROPELLER.

1,044,371. 'Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led April 26, 1910. Serial No. 557,699.

taining propulsive force, and any propeller in common' use may beemployed for that purpose. The propeller A, as shown, has, however, beenput to a number of practical comparative tests and has been found to beof greater eliiciency in propulsive force than any other type ofpropeller; but as further experiments may result in the employment ofother propellers than that here shown, for the purpose of increasingprop'ulsive speed, and as to obtain speed is not the essence of thisinvention, it can be readily understood that I do not wish to be limitedto the use of the particular structure shown.

The propeller A is mounted on a revoluble shaft 2, whichmay be driven byany desired means and in any suitable manner. In applying the inventionto propeller driven ships, the shaft 2 is preferably disposed at rightangles to the keel of a vessel B, as shown in Fig. A, passing througheachside,`and Vmay be situated at the stern To all whom t may concern Beit known that l, LAMARTINE R. FULDA, citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful lmprovements in Propellers, ofwhich to a device for conthe propulsive acrlhis invention relatestrolling the direction of tion of propellers. 0

lt is the object of this invention to provide a means for controllingthe direction of the propulsive force of propellers without stopping ordiminishing the speed of the propellers or their motive power.

A further object is to provide a device which is applicable for use inany situation where propellers are employed, whereby the structuredriven by the propellers may be caused to stop, reverse, go ahead, ortravel at various speeds without changingthe direction of the rotationor altering speed of the propeller.

A device of this nature is especially adapted for use on aerialmachines, submarines, and sea-going vessels. It is also suitable forlaunches and other craft using propellers for their propulsion, andparticularly on boats which are designed to travel at a high rate ofspeed.

rlhe invention consists of the parts and the construction andcombination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed,having referencel to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is afront elevation of my 1nventionl Fig. 2 is a side elevation.l Fig. 3 isa perspective view. Fig. 4: is a view depicting the manner of applyingthe device to the sternV of aship. Fig. 5 shows the successive positionsof thedirection con trolling device for driving in different directions.Fig. 6 is a plan view of a modiied form of the invention as applied toaerial propellers. Fig. 7 is a cross section on the line X X Fig. 6.Fig. 8 is aperspective view of the modified form of the invention shownin Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 9 is a detail in section showing another form ofconstructing the device shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a similar viewillustrating a different manner of constructing and operating the deviceshown in Figs. l and 2.

ln the drawings A represents a propeller which may be of any suitabletype or construction, as it is merely a means for obbe disposed `atintervals throughout the lengthV of the. vessel, but in either case apropeller blade A would be mounted on each" end of thej drive shaft inpairs to produce an even driving action. The shaft2 isv shown as passingthrough a sleeve 3, mounted in a suitable stuffing box 4;, where itextends through the side of a vesselB, the sleeve 3 being secured to orformed integral withV a circular disk or back-plate 5, which is disposedback of and adj acentto the blades'of the propeller A. This constructionpermits of. the shaft 2 and propeller A being rotated independent of thesleeve d and back-plate 5, which latter is adapted to be revolved freelyin either direction, irrespective of the shaft 2, by `means o-f a lever6 or its equivalent secured to theinner end of the sleeve 3, which maybe operated in any'suitable manner. The 'back-plate 5 is substantiallythe same diameter as that of the propeller A, and has a flange or rim 7formed at right angles on its outer periphery, forming a cylinder, theinner face of which follows the curvature of the circle, which boundsthe outer periphery of the blades A. The flange 7, or cylinder, may be aportion of the plate 5, or may be suitably secured thereto. In someinstances, however, the flange or cylinder 7 may be formed independentof the back-plate 5 and be revolved byany means independent thereof, theobject of the plate 5 being merely to Patented Nov. i2, 1,912.

thereof; or' a number of drive shafts may 2, so as to act form anessential backing or wall at the rear of the propeller blades A, and ishere shownV as attached to the flange 7 as a means of transmittingmovement to the latter from 5 the interior of the vessel B through thesleeve 3.

The flange or cylinder 7 is designed to be of a height approximatelyequal to the widest depth of the blades A and may be con- 10 tinuous,that is, to extend entirely around the periphery of the propeller A, asshown in Fig. 6, or it may have a section removed so as to form an openspace 8 on one side, as shown in Figs. 12*8, a condition depending uponwhether the propeller is employed in a vertical position, Figs. l and 2,or in a horizontal position, Fig. 7. lVhere the propeller A is used in avertical position, as on ships and submarines, the open`space 8 in theflange or cylinder 7 extends approximately about onequarter the distancearound the propeller A, as shown in Fig. l, thus virtually incasing thepropeller in a cylinder formed by the fiange 7 and backplate 5, whichcylinder yis open on one side,

as at 8, and one end.

have found by experiment that the efliciency of the propeller A, whenused in conjunction with my invention, wasgreatly increased by partiallyclosing the front of e the cylinder 7 with a plate9, the upper edge ofwhich terminates at one end just below the center line of the propellerand a sho-rt distance above the lower edge of the opening 8 at the otherend, the plate 9 being trimmed at 9 to bring its upper edge down to thecylinder end.

The operation of this form of the invention is as follows, the propellerA being vertically'mounted and disposed parallel with the keel of thevessel, instead of at rightV angles thereto, as in common practice: Thepropeller A, being rotated in the direction of the arrows a Fig. l, theHuid medium or water in which itoperates is drawn in at the open endofthe cylinder 7, as indicated by the arrows Fig. l, and is carriedaround the interior of the cylinder 7 intoV the pocket formed back .ofthe plate 9, by the propeller 5o blades A, to be discharged through theopen space 8.- The volume of Huid forced out of the opening'8 drives thevessel forward in the direction indicated by the arrow Z) Fig. l.

der l up, with cylinder e to the right, and with cylinder f thedirection of travel is down.

From the foregoing, it is evident that if Va vessel is being propelledin the direction of the arrow C, Fig. 5, and it is desired to reversethe direction of travel, it is only necessary to give the cylinder 7 ahalf turn, so as to throw it into the position shown at c, Fig. 5, theturning of the cylinder 7 changing the direction of travel withoutaffecting the propeller A. To stop the forward or rearward movement of avessel while the propellers A are rotating, the cylinder 7 is turned inthe position shown at 8 d or f, Fig. 5, in which position the propulsiveaction would be to lift the vessel in the water or pull it down, anaction which would have but little effect on a large ship other than tobring it to a standstill, for g in this position the direction of thepropulsive force is neither ahead nor astern. This feature of theinvention, however', can hc taken advantage of in submarineconstruction, as by turning the cylinder to one point, 9( the propellerswill act to sink the vessel, and at another point to raise it, while byvarying the position of the cylinder on its axis, the vessel may bedriven at any angle up or down, ahead or astern. As the turning of 95the cylindrical fiange 7 is essential to the successful operation ofthis forin of the invention and as the fiange or cylinder 7 is theessence of the invention, it becomes obvious that any suitable means maybe employed by 10i which the cylinder may be revolved. Fig. l0 shows asimple and different manner by which this may be effected. In this formthe cylinder 7 is revolubly supported on the face of a stationaryback-plate 5 by means of a 10 flange 10 on the cylinder 7 engaged by aband 1l on the plate 5. A lever 6 is sccured on the cylinder 7 throughwhich the latter may be rotated in any suitable manner.

Where the propeller A is operated in a 110 horizontal position, as shownin Figs. G and 7, to produce an upward and horizontal propulsive force,such, for instance, as in flying-machine construction, the cylinder 7completely surrounds the propeller A, and a 115 portion of theback-plate 5a is removed as at 8, so as to form an open space ofapproxit p mately half the area of the cylinder. In this whichYdirection is that on the Side 0f the form the air acted upon by therotation of propeller opposite the opening 8. It will be the blades A,is drawn in through the open 120 readily seen that when the cylinder 7is 10- end of the cylinder 7 from above and is distated so as to changethe position of the charged through the open space 8 in a Opening 8 inrelation to the propeller blade downward direction, thus tending toraise v A, the direction of propulsion will be correor lift the vesselin an upward direction spondingly. changed. This is clearly illusand atthe same time propel it in a hori- 125 trated in Fig. 5, which shows thecylinder 7 zontal position in the direction of the arrow dturned in fourdifferent positions and indig, Figs. l and 2, which direction is towardreating by arrows the direction of travel in the side of the cylinder 7opposite the openeach position. For instance, with the cylining 8. Thisbeing the case, it is readily der c the travel will be to the left, withcylinapparent that an air ship fitted with this in- 130 vention can benavigated in any direction, as turning the cylinder 7 to right or leftto change the position of the opening 8 changes the direction of thepropulsive force of the propeller A. This form of the invention eing putto an experimental test in a volume of Water, was found to pull equallyin an upward and a horizontal position at the same time.

As the changing of the position of the opening 8 influences thedirection of travel, in a manner like that of the opening 8 in the formpreviously described, it is evident that the same results can beaccomplished by mounting the cylinder 7 stationary over a circularopening 12, as shown in Fig. 9, and mounting the back-plate 5 separatelytherein, in which case the latter will be supported on a bearing 13 andprovided With means for being rotated, such as a lever 111. By turningthe lever 1li the back-plate 5 will be caused to 'rotate on its axisWithin the cylinder Z and thus change the position of the opening 8. e

lilach propeller blade A is provided WithV an outwardly projecting ribor flange l5 on its rear edge, which is designed to contact with theface of the back-plate 5 or 5 and acts to form a straight or planesurface, against which the fluid medium operated on is impinged; itbeing found that greater efhciency is obtained in propulsive force Wherethis construction is employed than Where the blade A meets theback-plate 5-5 at an angle. The back of the blades A may also beprovided with a number of ribs or corruga- Copies of this patent may betions 16, if desired, which act to offer a greaterl resistance, orprevent a certain slip of the fluid medium, on which the propellerrevolves.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is- 1. In a device of the character described, and incombination With a propeller, a cylinder completely closed on one sidean having an opposite side With an opening Which extends fromsubstantially the axis of the cylinder to the periphery of the cylinderat the other side of the axis, said cylinder having a discharge openingin its periphery.

2. ln a device of the character described, y

and in combination With a propeller, a cylinder completely closed on oneside and having an opposite side with an opening which extends fromlsubstantially the axis of the cylinder to the periphery of the cylinderat the other side of the axis, said cylinder having a discharge openingin its periphery, ka shaft, a sleeve on the shaft'and xed to the closedside of the cylinder, and means whereby the shaft and sleeve may beindependently rotated.

`ln testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

LAMARTINE yR. FULDA.

Witnesses CHARLES, EDELMAN,

W. Coon.

Commissioner of '.Patents,

Washington, D. G.

